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Topic: Nikon Sales Rising (Read 15295 times)

Even here in Malaysia (as I'm staying currently here), most of my office mates and friends that are new in photography, all of them have got Nikon except one (15 of them, because of D7000 & recently D600) though Canon users (mostly old) still outnumber them. You can see it whenever our club is going for photo shoots/hiking.

symmar22

Let's put this in perspective - this is the first quarter in several years that Nikon outsold Canon, and Nikon needs a lot more quarters like this last one to make up for how far they trail Canon in dSLR market share.

im not really interested in market shares... im interested in products.and nikon has produced the more exciting cameras this year.at least in my pricerange of 2000-3000 euro.

im not switching as this would cost me a fortune on glass.but i do hope that canons next generation will be exciting not just blah.

+1.

I stick because switching glass would cost me a fortune (and I need my TS-Es)

I couldn't care less about sales figures. Canon and Nikon are not exactly the same companies, Canon being much bigger, with lots of other products than photography (copiers, printers, office equipment).

But Nikon, with its smaller footprint is putting a lot of NEW products with exciting features. It's not not about money (Canon has more of it) it's about attitude and creativity.

For a newcomer, Nikon is nowadays the obvious choice, their cameras will give you better IQ for less money. Only the 1Dx can compete with its D4 equivalent.

What counts is the final product you release and the price you sell it. Canon has nothing exciting or even new to propose, it's clear they did not invest enough in RD since some time. They might be n°1, but they fell asleep.

IMO the 24-70mmf4 IS is just a marketing lens designed to offer a cheaper kit for the 6D.

When Nikon announces a NEW product, it's available within weeks (or a few months worst case). Canon since years is just refreshing what they already have, and announces it years before you can actually see it, most of it being delayed anyway. On top of that, the retail price is always more than the competition and much more than the product it replaces.

IMO the last NEW lenses Canon has put on the market was the 8-15mm Fisheye, and the good 40mm pancake (though crippled by the focus by wire). Everything else is merely a refresh.

The 24mm and 28mm IS are replacing 30 years old lenses, I would call them a refresh as well, and the price has been refreshed accordingly.

Even there, I'd take a 5DIII over a D800 for general use. I'm sure I'd find the D800 exciting if my primary subjects were landscape and architecture, but they're not.

Off topic, but...Wouldn't you want a D800 for the wildlife stuff you do, too?

The AF on the 5DIII is reportedly superior, and the high ISO performance is better, too. Both are even more true of the 1D X. Would I like more MP? Sure. But great AF and low noise are more important, to me.

and nikon has produced the more exciting cameras this year.at least in my pricerange of 2000-3000 euro.

Even there, I'd take a 5DIII over a D800 for general use. I'm sure I'd find the D800 exciting if my primary subjects were landscape and architecture, but they're not.

+1! I am learning this the hard way. I love the D800 for shooting outside and shooting still scenary like landscape, but trying to shoot a moving subject even outside or shooting indoor with a flash sometime is a hit and miss game with the AF on the D800. It is also very sensitive to lenses selection. In low light prime lenses are almost impossible to focus with the D800...

As a result (and to my surprise to some degree) my go to Camera for shooting ISO 100 with a flsh inside is actually my ... 1DX!

I bought a d800 about 3 weeks ago, and unfortunately, it was a lemon. Center focus point dead-on, but BOTH left and right way off. This especially affects moving subjects. Took me three weeks back-and forth between the shop until I got a replacement. First they "fixed" it - all focus points were basically even... evenly bad. My 50mm lens that needed zero AF Fine Tune with my d7k needed about +30 when the body came back from "repairs." Finally, I got a new body, and fortunately, it's accurate and fast, even in low light. From what I gather from reviews (I haven't handled the 1DX) they are pretty much on par, negligible difference in focusing speed and accuracy... if you get a good copy. Which reminds me - while Nikon sales are up, service quality is way down. The left AF focus issue is a huge let-down, especially the silence on the part of Nikon

You should be happy about the fact that finally you have a good one (D800). You should not blame N service as you are happy at the end. My 5d3 was a crap since purchase. Sent it 5 times for service for fixing AF. I bought my body in May...still not working. That's Canon service from my point of view-and they did not exchange it for new and good copy . I have terrible experience with Canon service. Now I have a 3500$ body without working AF.

Logged

5D3, 35L, 85 1.8, 135L, 24-70L, 70-200L IS II, 580 EX II.

DB

You should be happy about the fact that finally you have a good one (D800). You should not blame N service as you are happy at the end. My 5d3 was a crap since purchase. Sent it 5 times for service for fixing AF. I bought my body in May...still not working. That's Canon service from my point of view-and they did not exchange it for new and good copy . I have terrible experience with Canon service. Now I have a 3500$ body without working AF.

That is appalling. Did you buy your 5D3 online or from a store? You would've thought that Canon would go out of their way to replace a high-end DSLR pronto

Do we have any figures on Canon's sales? I know Nikon market share is still below that of Canon but I hope Canon do something with it not only on the marketing side but also on the technology side.

Nikon did increase sales, but only by slashing prices. Sales increased 2.2% over the last 6 months, but profits dropped 36.9%.Its difficult to compare Canon and Nikon figures, because they report the information differently.However, looking at the same two periods, I have Canon sales off 3.1% and profits off 18.6%. So profit wise, they are not having to slash prices as much as Nikon, or they just have a bigger profit margin.The next quarter is one that will be interesting, Spring and Christmas are the big sales quarters. If sales are slow, we will see even bigger sales.Both Nikon and Canon know that its better to keep their skilled labor employed by cutting prices. It costs a lot to cut production by a drastic amount.

That is appalling. Did you buy your 5D3 online or from a store? You would've thought that Canon would go out of their way to replace a high-end DSLR pronto

Bought it in a store which sells online too, however it does not matter right now. I could count only on service which really did not help me. It fixed one thing but untune everything else for a few times.

Actually I am surprised at people saying that most anyone new to photography automatically jumps on the Nikon bandwagon. Not that their products are any bad, but this is not the reality I see.

In camera stores I find it not uncommon to see people being new to photography buying Nikon gear based on specs or usability preferences or whatever other reasons. Amongst people I know anyone actually taking a deep look at photography and asking photographers what they are using and how, ended up investing in Canon.

At the same time I know many shooting Nikon for years with good results not upgrading whatsoever, which I at first could not understand, because I expected people would have more than enough reason to upgrade, but those Nikon shooters were quite unwilling to upgrade their gear. Since many of those unwilling to join the megapixel rat race were shooting Nikon a couple of years back, it would actually be weird to expect the same people to throw their personal views overboard and now they should be all crazy about high megapixel cameras.

Most people new to photography end up buying bridge cameras with tiny sensors.

I think we're talking about people that are new to photography but are well informed or well advised. The kind of people that will later on buy some decent lenses and not a 18-300 superzoom. You can read it as: "anybody new to photography that comes to me for advice is going to end up with a Nikon or a Sony". And you may add to that: "and, as everybody else does, I presume other people are just like me".

Do we have any figures on Canon's sales? I know Nikon market share is still below that of Canon but I hope Canon do something with it not only on the marketing side but also on the technology side.

The only thing Canon can do is to produce more technological improved cameras at a lower price like Nikon. If they insist in the current marketing/product strategy they will loose a huge chunk of market share.

The only thing I can see causing this are extremely high prices and a lack of innovation. I don't think the sensor stuff and DR stuff matters to the majority of DSLR users. I know quite a few pro-photographers and not one of them ever mentions dynamic range. It sounds like a lot of benchmarking tech geeks are on the message board. It reminds me of how people judge graphics cards by using 3DMark scores instead of actually using real games to judge their GPU. Even though I have a 5D3, in 2012 a camera should have built in wifi and usb 3.0 for $3500. I wonder how much these cameras actually cost to make and how much profit would they lose by adding little modern conveniences.